At least seven bodies have been recovered from the shallow grave, where they had been buried in lime and sand, at a ranch east of Mexico City.
They have yet to be identified, but one federal investigator said he was almost certain they were the young people who vanished from the Mexico City bar because they had found designer clothing at the site.
The bar-goers, who were in their late teens and early 20s, were kidnapped from the after-hours Heaven club at midday on May 26, close to Mexico City’s Paseo de Reforma, the capital’s equivalent of the Champs-Elysees.
Surveillance cameras showed several cars pulling up to the bar and taking away the victims, who included four women.
The bizarre disappearance resonated across the city of nine million people because many had come to believe the area was an oasis from Mexico’s cartels and drug violence.
Prosecutors have said the abductions were linked to a dispute between two rival drug gangs.
The victims’ families say they were not involved in drug trafficking.
Relatives watched excavations at the site of the grave, which was found after agents received a tip-off about illegal weapons on the property at Tlalmanalco and obtained a search warrant.
Maria Teresa Ramos, grandmother of Jerzy Ortiz, one of the missing, told Milenio television: “We have had three months with this anxiety. We are dying every day, little by little.”
Mexico City prosecutor Rodolfo Rios said that there were more bodies to be recovered.
He said: “We will look at DNA tests that have been taken … to confirm or discard scientifically if the bodies found are the people who disappeared from the bar.”
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said no arrests have been made but added that two men living in a trailer on the property were detained and three guns were found.
So far, five people have been detained over the kidnapping case, including club owner Ernesto Espinosa Lobo, known as “The Wolf,” who has been charged with kidnapping.
Among those held are another bar owner, a driver and security guard. One suspect is still on the run.
[adrotate banner=”61″]
